Chris J Wilson

One of my kids had a very specific request for her birthday.

A giant toy connected to their favourite cartoon of the moment. I was hesitant — we don’t have that much space and already have a couple of really large toys (that for me at least are just annoying) — but we relented and sure enough a giant Gabby’s Dollyhouse arrived complete with set of figures.

Before it arrived, my wife had noted that this gigantic plaything wasn’t complete. In fact, it’s a modular toy so you can add more rooms and areas on to it — oh. Joy.

But, here we are a month later and my daughter recently exclaimed their frustration at the toy.

• It’s too big
• It’s not like real thing
• it’s stupid (her words, not mine).

And so, she isn’t playing with it much. To be clear, she does still play with it, but she’s also suggested selling it (we regularly sell our old kids old toys and they can then use that money to buy new ones).

It made me think about some of the toys we’re had recently that they’ve used consistently and still enjoy.

• Bikes
• Roller blades
• swimming goggles
• A paper zine with printing out pictures they chose.

It seems that the more active, involved and self created things are those they love the most. And, of course, they are far cheaper too.

It’s not just kids

Of course, it’s not just my kids but me too.

Many of the cool gadgets I think will make me happy I grow out of quickly. But the things that get me out and about or tools to create things are the things that bring me ongoing enjoyment.

I’d bet you’re similar.

An irony of Tim Keller’s winsomeness — he never rested in his power to convert.

Yes, he studied and used his intellect to present arguments for God and theology, but I always sensed a humility where he didn’t try to force his faith.

“Here it is. It is good.”

Is the posture I always got from him. And he believed it.

In the last few days, I’ve (unfortunately) caught some of his detractors again complaining about his “winsomeness” approach¹.

The main criticism I’ve heard is “he should have been more forceful!” That usually means he should have insulted or belittled his opponents, he should have campaigned politically on their top issues, or, as I read yesterday, he didn’t change the politics of New York so he was a failure.

All of which come back to trusting in our own strength to achieve a goal, rely on ends justifying the means and usually **come from insecurities that their ideas aren’t actually good or persuasive **but have to be forced upon people instead.

My church is doing a series on Evangelism at the moment and one of the themes four preacher (all of who haven’t known what the other would preach) have touched on is faithfulness and trusting God rather than resting in our strength or skill.

I wonder what that does to the culture war stuff?

I am certain it let’s speak confidently on issues that are “progressive” or “conservative” without fear of repercussion ². And, although there will be exceptions who imbue impure motives, lets the listener see the honest conviction of the speaker rather than see the demon they fear is underneath.

Keller wasn’t perfect, but I’d certainly rather adopt his posture and rely on God’s power than try it on my own.

I’ve got a few camera options

• iPhone
• Ricoh GR (10+ year point and shoot)
• Olympus Mju ii (pocket film camera)
• Hassleblad 500c
• Nikon z50

The recent bout of new film cameras has given me a desire to hit the streets with my Olympus again, but I suspect I’ll end up just taking my iPhone for the same reason I normally do.

Camera decision fatigue

Here’s how my typical thought process looks.

• Oh that’s makes me want to use my [insert camera] again
• Ah, but that camera [doesn’t have enough photos/is too big/needs more film/is fixed lens/required me to bring more lenses/]
• I’ll take [Insert other camera] instead
• Ah, but that camera [doesn’t have enough photos/is too big/needs more film/is fixed lens/required me to bring more lenses/]
• Repeat X times
• Oh, it’s late. I’ll just not take a camera. (but I always take my phone).

By trying to pick the best option, I pick no option.

There are exceptions, but as I just wrote, they are exceptions, not the norm. And that’s a real shame as every camera I own is great. Sure, I’d love a newer GR with IBIS and wifi to make transferring images faster, I’d also love a full frame Nikon, but those are small details in the big picture.

While the iPhone is a great camera, the other cameras have their own charms.

A mission to use other cameras more

So I’m committing to rotating my cameras better.

They all need a run around and stretch of their legs to make sure they aren’t getting rusty (in some cases literally). And by forcing myself to take one picture a day on one camera, I’m sure I’ll have some fun experiments.

I’m fully aware that I will probably have failed this by next week, but if I don’t try then I will certainly have failed.

**If you are struggling with camera decision fatigue, maybe you’d like to try too. **

Now where’s my Olympus…

On Monday, I popped into a local tech shop to try the new iPad Pro and iPad Air.

I wanted to see what the new pencil was like and how the Air’s screen held up. Why? Well, I’d love to replace my current iPad with its multi-year-old white spot on the screen and Apple Pencil 2.

At the same time, I don’t have unlimited money to drop on any old tech purchase I want. So if an M2 iPad Pro or Air fits my needs, then that’s far better for me. (Of course, either would. My current iPad is fine and I could do my little sketches with any device, so it’s not really a question…and yet.)

Apple pencil issues

I picked up the Apple pencil straight away and… nothing.

My guess was the pencil wasn’t charged so I clipped it on and tried another iPad (the Air this time) — the same issue.

I went back to the first iPad thinking the pencil would be ready now. NOPE!

Eventually I managed to use the pencil on the 13" Air but it was a real hassle and I’ve heard similar pairing issues from other users. I don’t know if this is caused by the new magnet position but it’s not something I’d expect from a display iPad with 100% charge in the pencil.

What screen difference?

I know the Pro’s have an amazing screen and I’m sure John Siracusa can spot that instantly…but I couldn’t point to a difference. (Although I’ll walk this back in a second)

I was really expecting to notice the slower screen refresh especially with the pencil but I didn’t pick up on it with the Air. It seemed great quality and responsive.

Now, I didn’t really get to try the Pro (the pencil didn’t work) and I didn’t really stretch or directly compare the two screens. I’m 100% sure that if I had, I would have noticed the difference. But from just casually picking the iPads up and having a 10 minute play around in procreate, I didn’t spot any weaknesses in the Air.

Where’s the home button

I found my muscle memory kept searching for the homebutton on the side of the iPad — but there was none.

I know I’d unlearn this habit within a day or two but it’s amazing how ingrained these things become. And while swiping up from the phone felt very natural, the iPad didn’t seem as natural to me.

So what will I get?

Honestly, I think I’m not going to get one…yet. BUT if my iPad died today and I had to get a new one…I’d probably buy an iPad Pro M2. The new features sound great, but I don’t need the power of the m3 and I’d sacrifice the pencil pro’s benefits for the faster screen refresh of the Pro.

I’m sure if I played with the m3 pro more, justified it as a business expenses, and if the next iPadOS adds some extra advantages of the m3 or new iPads, then that might change. But as for now, I’m still happy (ish) with my current iPad.

I used my iPad heavily when I was teaching but there was one thing that always brought me back to a PC: logging reports and data in the terrible student management system.

That was despite the promises of “a mobile friendly version so you can take registration anywhere”. They promised us it would reduce paperwork but during the role out they said some features weren’t ready so we had to continuing keeping paper records… and then the paper records never went away.

So our wonderful new system “to save teachers' time” made us spend far more.

I knew it wasn’t really about the teachers. It was so they had better data on student attendance and engagement so they could take actions to maintain student enrolment.

And if that meant teachers had to do more (unpaid) work to achieve those goals, well that’s a price the executives were willing to pay.

So, a certain high up at a company that may or may not be mine has decided that Slack threads aren’t good. Apparently, we (read, the high up) lose track of updates and don’t know what they are about. Related, we…I mean some company… have stopped using campaign specific channels and now have area channels (i.e social media/ SEO).

So, now there can be two people asking about two different projects/articles and responses where you just have to guess which project it’s about. Plus you have to scroll through every single response even if it’s about something you’re not working on.

I get that this is easier for a manager.

You need to go through everything and check all the action items, if you miss a comment or two then it can be a real pain. But there’s a better solution to this: Comments next to tasks.

We have project management systems, including ones that show who needs to take action and add tasks only once the previous one is completed. We can even discuss issues in these projects. BUT, then we see the comments rather than them disappearing off into the infinite scroll ether of Slack.

So of course we don’t use them.

The biggest irony in this whole situation is that by trying to make things easier to manage, they’re actually harder to manage and keep track of…in this hypothetical company.

The iPad event is today. I’m interested to see what apple brings. Mine is six years old and apart from a pixel burn in the screen, it’s great. Okay, it lags a bit more than it used to and the battery life is no where near what it once was, but it still does all I need. That said, I am really intrigued what’s coming especially as this could be my next iPad. And if not, it means the current, amazing iPads (with wireless charging Apple Pencils) will come down in price. Win win win.

A few years back I read a terrible self-help book. It was one I’d never buy for myself which is probably why I didn’t like it much. BUT, it did have one useful idea.

Know exactly what you want and don’t water it down.

It’s been on my mind recently because I’ve been reading a far better business book — “The Coaching Habit” by Michael Bungay Stanier.

While it can be summarised in one sentence — give less advice, ask more questions, let the other person speak more — it also has a ton of value inside and one of the biggest is the question

What do you really want here?

Admitting what we want

Most of the time,

1. we don’t know what we really want
2. when we do know, it’s the surface level desire
3. and we prevent ourselves from knowing because we are afraid to say what we actually want

This makes us discuss ideas or solutions that don’t actually get to the core of what we want. When we can admit what we want — even when we feel like it’s selfish, impossible, or “not what people like us do” — we can find real solutions.

Those may mean compromises including ones that consider those factors, but they may not too. When we are clear about what we really want, it makes it a lot easier to make appropriate compromises and know when we shouldn’t.

Here’s a simple example

You might say “I want a more managerial role” and so gun for a promotion. But when you get down to what you really want, it’s more free time, but you’ve been conditioned to think 1. a more senior role is easier (The reverse can be equally true). 2. more money = more free time (but it can come with more overhead). 3. The more senior your role, the more likely you need to respond outside regular hours.

The better solution might be to go freelance, consult, or even take a lower paid, more hands on position but with more free time.

Now, that might be you, but it might not be you too. If you see that example and accept the conclusions without knowing what you really want, that’s a recipe for disaster.

What do I really want?

This is the part of the post where I should give a personal example to help illustrate it, but I can’t do that so easily.

You see, I’m not really sure yet.

But I have a new note in my obsidian vault and I’m using the 5 why’s technique to help dig deeper.

Maybe you just need a piece of paper, but I recommend you give it a go.